Tag Archives: Lent

Lent – the original mud run

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As I was out in the community yesterday offering ashes, I was struck by the wide variety of facial and body-language responses of the people who seemed to notice my presence. The least common seemed to be a knowing recognition and appreciation of why I was there – to offer a companioned experience of renewal to those who might desire it. A subset of these people actually came over and engaged me in conversation, some of them requested and received prayer and the imposition of ashes.

Ash WednesdayFar more common were the variations of folks who didn’t really seem to get what I was doing, even though I had a sign that clearly stated the offer —

I did not ask any of them about their thoughts – It seemed important not to insert or impose myself into their worlds any more than I already was by my mere presence and posture. Even so, I couldn’t help but wonder.

Granted, the mall or a metro station are not where one typically looks for experiences of forgiveness and renewal. Transformation may be sought many places and in many different kinds of experiences, but there was definitely a disconnect for these folks.

I thought about the work of Angie Thurston and Casper ter Kuile, two scholars from Harvard Divinity School – How We Gather. Their research took them into relationship with an array of leaders in new expressions of community designed to foster and facilitate individual, community and social transformation. CrossFit may be the most well known manifestation of this “new” trend in “non-religious” community formation. In the process, Angie and Casper identify six recurring themes that these gatherings have in common with religious expressions of community. As with religious groups, all six are not emphasized equally, and some are ignored completely. These six themes are:

Community  ~  Personal Transformation  ~  Social Transformation
Purpose Finding  ~  Creativity  ~  Accountability

HWG- six themes

How We Gather, Angie Thurston & Casper ter Kuile, 2015. p8

As I looked hopefully on the people around me, those with smudged foreheads and those who wondered why I didn’t wash my face, it occurred to me. People are always searching for journeys of transformation. And often these journeys connect us with the earth in one way or another. Some people walk the Appalachian Trail. Others walk on hot coals with Trever McGhee. The journey will include at least 4 elements:

  • It is both a solitary and communal act – As the person making the journey, it is you against the elements. And yet you are also surrounded by a “great cloud of witnesses” who have traveled the road before you, or are on the journey with you now.
  • It is an arduous process – The journey includes various forms of pain (physical, emotional, spiritual, relational, mental) and deprivation (going without some creature comforts, or even things typically considered essential).
  • It is transformative – The participant expects to be changed in some way – perhaps to prove to oneself an inner strength, a mastery of the elements, the mind or the body.
  • It leaves a mark – Often the mark is some form of dirt or ash. The road takes its toll, and the marks are a kind of badge of honor for the wearer – and perhaps a cause of bewilderment for the disengaged onlooker (“You people must be crazy…” is a phrase often spoke of or at those who make such journeys.)

And then I realized – Lent, beginning as it does with Ash Wednesday – is the original Mud Run. The Mud Run meets all four tests listed above, though it is certainly briefer than the AT or Lent.

mudrun 1Lent is a journey of transformation, marked with the initiating challenge to runners “You are dust, and to dust you will return.” Perhaps things like the Mud Run exist because the way church has offered transformation journeys over the recent centuries has lost meaning and power for many people. Perhaps the church, without coopting (ripping off) the culture’s innate creativity, might take some notes. As Angie and Casper have demonstrated so capably, the culture will create responses to the very real human need for such journeys, whether inside or far beyond religious communities.

One other thing. The people who make such journeys in the wider culture – they really seem to be enjoying themselves, individually and together, despite the pain and deprivation. Personal sacrifice does not result in misery for these folks. I’m reminded suddenly of Jesus counsel to his contemporaries for how to undertake their own Mud Run disciplines:

16 “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others (Matthew 6)

Wherever your journey of transformation takes you, may you have companions by your side, and all the provision you need. And may you be truly different at the end – more fully yourself, and more fully alive.

Ash Wednesday Reset

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'Do you need a personal Reset? I'll be offering a blessing and imposition of Ashes at 1:30pm in the Inspiration Room. I'll also be on the West End Dart Platform around 12:30pm offering ashes to passers by. If you can't make it and want to talk, PM me. http://ivitalministry.org/2015/02/18/virtual-ash-wednesday/'Do you need a personal Reset?

Ash Wednesday begins the 40 day season of Lent, a time of personal renewal, like a Reset Button for your life.

This is an opportunity to identify and name the brokenness in your life – either resulting from your own choices and disordered desires or things that others have done to you.

We will be inviting people to receive ashes as a tangible and
visceral reminder that we can turn around and move in another direction (repent) and that we can have a fresh start. Here’s the schedule for Wednesday 2/10/16

+ 9:30 am @ North Park Center Corner Bakery,
La Madeline & Bread Winners
+ 11:00 am @ White Rock Court Assisted Living
+ 12:00 pm @ The Mix Coworking
+ 1:45 pm @ St. Paul’s Church, UCC
+ 3:30 pm @ The Grove, Dallas Coworking
+ 5:30 pm @ The West End Dart Rail Station
+ 7:00 pm @ St. Paul’s Church, UCC

If you can’t make it and want to talk, PM me.

Whether you are able to attend a service or not, I invite you to experience this virtual Ash Wednesday:

If you find this week, or any time in the near future, that you need or want to talk about your own desire for transformation, for letting go of pain and brokenness and moving forward into health and wholeness, please let me know.

Good Works – Hide ’em or Show ’em?

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You may have seen the Liberty Mutual “Pay it Forward” commercial where people witness a “random act of kindness” and then do an act of kindness for a stranger. LifeVestInsideYou can watch it using the link below.

I had not seen the “Life Vest Inside” campaign – a nonprofit dedicated to teaching, promoting and supporting acts of kindness as a remedy to bullying and hatred.

I thought this was a pretty cool campaign, and it got me to thinking about what Jesus said about the importance of doing good works, and the risks. Good works can draw other people toward God. They can also be a stumbling block for ourselves and others if we get wrapped up in taking credit for the good we did, or think that doing good = being good.

15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (Mt 5)

3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Mt 6)

These two passages appear to be in tension, if not in direct contradiction. Should we let other people see our good works, or not? Part of our Lenten journey is to wrestle with these two ideas. If we don’t let others see the good work being done, then we are not setting an example for them to follow (1 Cor 11:1). Nor will we be able to join together with other people of peace, whatever their faith, spirituality or religion.

Our worth is rooted in God. It begins and ends with the reality that we are made in God’s image for relationships of covenant love with God, others, creation and self. We are beloved.

Liberty Mutual Pay it ForwardEven so, we are called to care for one another, both spontaneously, as these videos illustrate, and with intentionality, planning and great commitment. There was nothing random about God’s acts of kindness in Jesus Christ. During Lent let us explore how we might encourage both types of Good works, all for God’s glory. What might God be asking us to do? How might we serve those around us?

http://youtu.be/L5ya8J-jyK4

2 Chronicles 7 vs11-22 – When it’s time for a turn-around

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Sermon Notes:

What precedes the text:     Solomon

  • asks for wisdom above all
  • gathers support from others with resources and expertise
  • builds the temple
  • asks God to hear the prayers of all people
  • asks God to forgive and restore when the Israelites sin and are defeated, become captives, or have droughts
  • Sacrifices 22k oxen and 120k sheep – hosts a great feast!

The people said:    “For he is good. His steadfast love endures forever.” (2 Chron 5:13)

If my people, Called by my name

  • Humble themselves
  • Pray
  • Seek my face
  • Turn from their wicked ways

THEN I will..

  • Hear from heaven
  • Forgive their sin
  • Heal their land

1. God will hear…

The first of these is kind of strange. God promises to hear the prayers of God’s people. Does this suggest that at other times God is unable or chooses not to hear? Would that limit God’s power? Or might we liken it to a parent responding to an insolent child by saying, “I can’t hear you when you speak to me with that tone of voice and posture. I ask you to speak to me respectfully.” Does that literally mean that the parent can’t hear? No. it is rather that the experience of the parent is dominated by the negative energy of the bratty attitude coming from the child. Perhaps this is what the author has in mind in thinking about God hearing or not hearing us.

Or, maybe this kind of hearing is linked with an active response. If I am in genuine need and cry out for help, and you do not respond, then you have not truly heard me, even if you did receive the auditory stimulation of my voice. To hear is to be moved to act, to take in the message and allow it to move one on a deeper level. Perhaps this is what it means when we say God hears our prayers. When we ask selfishly, God does not hear. When we ask a prayer that will bring harm to others, God does not hear. When we ask something that is contrary to God’s will, God does not hear, at least not in this second sense. This seems to be the message of 1 John 5:14-15 And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.

The phrase “hear from heaven” is used by Solomon 7 times in 2 Chronicles 6 in his prayer to God.

The Psalmist repeats the call for God to hear, answer, be gracious and revive. (Psalms 4, 17, 39, 54, 61, 84, 102, 143) We need to understand that this first promise of God is not a statement that before God was not hearing, but rather that these actions of ours move us toward a humble posture of relationship in which we can experience God hearing us.

2. Forgive…

Here too, the issue is not that God is otherwise unforgiving, or that our actions result in God deciding to forgive or being made to forgive. It is rather that until we take the necessary steps in our own lives we are not free to experience God’s forgiveness. Recall this affirmation from Exodus 34:
6 The Lord passed before him, and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” And again, in Numbers 14: 18 “The Lord is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children to the third and the fourth generation.’ 19 Forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have pardoned this people, from Egypt even until now.” 20 Then the Lord said, “I do forgive, just as you have asked; 21 nevertheless—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord— 22 none of the people who have seen my glory and the signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tested me these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23 shall see the land that I swore to give to their ancestors; none of those who despised me shall see it.

These texts demonstrate Israel’s faith in a God who desires to forgive. They also make clear that forgiveness does not prevent the natural consequences of sin from unfolding. God forgives, but we (and others) may still receive the harvest of what we (and others) have sown.

3. Heal their land…

Finally, God promises to heal. This third step is about the journey back from the brokenness that comes as a natural result of our sin. We do not know why, but God seems not to prevent injury to the innocent. Sin has consequences, often unintended, and often to innocent bystanders. What God promises in this prayer is to bring healing to the land – the Hebrew word ha erets connotes both the physical geography and its inhabitants. In a time of violence and greed, people and the rest of the natural world are injured. God promises a healing to flow that will bring restoration and renewal.

This is a wonderful vision – God will hear. God will forgive. God will heal. We want and need this, in our personal lives, in our families, in churches, communities, nations, and among nations and peoples in the world. Solomon asked that God would do this, and that the temple might be an earthly focal point for this encounter between God and human kind. There is not mention here that it is the only place, and Solomon clearly affirms the Hebrew understanding that God cannot be limited or contained by any building, place, people, or even by the heavens we see.

The text also makes clear that we have a role to play, not only in the brokenness, but also in the redemption. God says, “If my people will…” This promise is given to the people of God who were a nation. This is not about political boundaries or ideologies. This promise is given to whoever is called by God’s name. Everyone called by God’s Name. 1 Peter explodes this notion by clearly including the Gentile followers of Jesus, establishing a parallel to the story in 2 Chronicles 6-7, now envisioning God building us together as a temple for God’s self – a spiritual, mystical temple not made with hands (cf 2 Cor 5:1?)

If my people will…

  • Humble themselves
  • Pray
  • Seek my face
  • Turn from their wicked ways

Notice that turning from wicked ways (i.e. repentance) is the fourth item in this list. Does that suggest a necessary order in the process? Not necessarily, but perhaps. It is something to consider – i.e. what are the steps toward repentance? Can we just jump right into repentance, or do some other things precede? I suspect that repentance is like forgiveness and love of enemy or love of neighbor as self – it is something toward which we are directly called, but we can’t get there directly. So, what can we see are three steps toward full repentance? Humility, prayer, seeking after God.

1. Humble themselves. This is an active discipline that requires our attention. It is about our thoughts and attitudes toward other people. Our humility is a posture before self, others, the world and God. It is our awareness that:

  • We do not know everything
  • We are not the center of everything
  • We are not in control
  • I.E. We are not GOD

2. Pray – Prayer also is an active spiritual discipline – it is attending to the spiritual conversation continually in process between God and the world – its like entering a chat line, picking up a party line, or tuning in to a CB or ham radio channel.

  • We have to turn the radio on.
  • We have to tune in.
  • We have to be quiet and listen.

This posture of prayer follows the openness that grows from our humility. Once we assume this receptivity, then we are able to understand more deeply God’s heart for us and for the world. We see the gap between all God desires and all that is. Our hearts break, not because of all that has been done to us, but because of all that we, individually and collectively, have done.

3. Seek my face. We realize through our humility and openness in prayer that we need God more than anything else. We yearn for God. The Psalmist captures our heart: “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so we long for you O God.” (Psalm 42:1); “Who have I in heaven but you, and having you, I desire nothing else.” (Psalm 73:25) “As a servant looks to the hand of his master, and a maid to the hand of her mistress, so we look to you.” (Psalm 123:2). We seek God’s face – God’s presence, God’s radiance. We seek God looking upon us as a loving parent.

I don’t know really whether these things MUST precede repentance – a turning away from our wicked ways – but they certainly will help in the ongoing process of turning away. Repentance of this sort is not a onetime thing. Our wickedness has a depth and breadth to it. It is not just a series of actions, but a complex of ideas, habits and systems. The turning away is a long, slow, laborious process that will continually require us rehearsing those other three steps in order for us to maintain our sense of who we are in God. Humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face. Repeat. Continually.

Returning to the text of chapter 6 of 2 Chronicles, we hear a list when it may be time for a turn-around.

  • If someone sins against another
  • When your people Israel, having sinned against you, are defeated before an enemy
  • When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you
  • If there is famine in the land, if there is plague, blight, mildew, locust, or caterpillar;
  • If their enemies besiege them in any of the settlements of the lands;
  • Whatever suffering, whatever sickness there is
  • If your people go out to battle against their enemies
  • If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near;

When we know we have sinned against someone, then it’s time for a turn-around.
When there is suffering or sickness, then it’s time for a turn-around.
When we are overcome by our adversaries, then it’s time for a turn-around.
When the things that sustain life are in short supply, then it’s time for a turn-around.
When we are up against great obstacles, then it’s time for a turn-around.
When we find ourselves in captivity, then it’s time for a turn-around.

And when it’s time for a turn-around, then we know what we need to do:
Humble ourselves. Pray. Seek God’s face. Turn from our wicked ways.

Lent 2012 Prayer and Study Guide

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Flyer – Lent 2012 – Pryaer & Study Guide

Prayer & Study Guide
Lent 2012
REPENT
Turn around &
Find new life
Repent, for the kingdom of God is here!

Special Days of Lent

Ash Wednesday – Jesus “sets his face toward Jerusalem – and so do we.

Wednesdays – 6:30pm meal and vespers

Holy Week

Palm Sunday –  Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem – we enter the sanctuary with palm branches

Maundy Thursday –Jesus’ Last Supper with the Apostles.

Good Friday – Jesus’ trial and crucifixion

Holy Saturday – A time of waiting in prayer – grieving Jesus’ death and waiting quietly for the resurrection

Easter Sunday – Jesus is Risen, Christ is Risen Indeed!

Flyer – Lent 2012 – Pryaer & Study Guide

Lenten Sermon Series:

Christ living in me…

Use these verses and brief notes as prompts for your own reflection and prayer on the Sunday scripture. Take some time during the week to read and pray through the passage. Share with others the things you discover.

2/26 When its time for a turn-around

2 Chronicles 7:11-22 ~ 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

What are some signs in your life that it may be time to turn in another direction? How do you do that and what might help?

3/4 None are beyond hope

Ezekiel 18  ~ 30 Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!

When have you felt beyond hope? If not you, who do you know who has or does feel beyond hope, beyond the reach of God’s love and grace? Ezekiel suggests that no one is beyond God’s reach.

3/11 Without repentance, we can’t be ready  Matthew 4 ~  17 From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Lent is a season of preparation – opening ourselves to God’s work of making us new creatures in Christ and preparing us for Kingdom work. This always includes a new exploration of repentance as we seek to have God clear away any obstacles to the Holy Spirit’s work in and through us.

3/18 Sins of believers worse than those of the world?  Luke 13 ~ 2 He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 

Jesus warns that the sins of believers will be judged more strictly than those of unbelievers. How does that affect where we focus our attention and energy?

3/25 Repentance reshapes life

Acts 2 ~ 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.”

As we change direction in our life through repentance, we also move into a time of formation or re-formation – i.e. our life changes shape, and is formed in new ways. We become like a lump of clay that is softened and then worked by the master potter. Repentance is essential in that process of softening heart and mind so that we are open to God’s creative work.

4/1 Everyone can change!

Acts 17 ~ 30 While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

The message is not just for people of a particular race, ethnicity, religion or tradition. God’s offer of new life is for all people. How are we receiving it, and how are we living and sharing it with others?

4/5 Lord’s Supper –Thursday @ 7pm

We gather for a meal and reenact the Last Supper as we remember Jesus.

4/6 Good Friday – 7pm

We remember Jesus’ courage and suffering for our salvation.

4/6-8 –  7pm Friday-7am Sunday

Join in our 36 Hour prayer vigil.

4/8 He is Risen!

Matthew 28  ~ 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.”

Talk about a turn-around! Repentance often feels like a death, as we leave behind (or ‘die to’) old ways of thinking, speaking and acting. We may be fearful of going through this process, but Jesus’ resurrection assures us that new life awaits.

Praying with scripture

One of the ways we grow to be more like Jesus is by learning to pray with him – by praying with scripture. Jesus prayed from the scriptures his entire life, even to the cross. And even more deeply, since we claim with John that Jesus is the Word of God, and that in Scripture we also find the Word of God, that when we pray the scriptures, we are praying with Jesus. So, how do we do this?

1. Put yourself in a quiet place where you can concentrate on the words and your own thoughts without interruption.

2. Acknowledge to yourself and God your complete dependence.

3. Express to God your desire (to be more loving, to learn forgiveness, to know God’s leading, etc.)

4. Read the scripture, not to study it, but simply to hear it. Try reading it aloud; read it several times. Listen for the word, phrase or idea where your heart or mind settle and stay there without feeling the need to rush on. Only when you’ve finished ‘thinking that thought’ should you continue with your reading.

5. Imagine yourself in the scene if it is a narrative passage. If not then imagine yourself sitting at Jesus’ feet with Mary, listening to him teach you. Either way, make note of what you feel and what you think.

6. Now have a conversation with God about what you’ve though and felt.

7. Finish by praying the Lord’s Prayer or another similar short prayer.

8. Briefly write in your journal about your prayer experience.

 (Based on the work of Ignatius of Loyola)

     For centuries Christians of many traditions have lived their lives of faith through the rhythm of the Church year, or Liturgical Calendar.  Almost all Christians at least acknowledge Christmas and Easter. Others add Advent, Holy Week, and Pentecost.

Lent, like Advent, is a time of preparation.  Forty days in length (not counting Sundays), Lent mirrors Israel’s 40 years of wandering from Bondage to Freedom, Moses’ 40 days on Mount Sinai, and Jesus’ 40 days of wilderness temptation between baptism and ministry.  We may experience several things during this time.  God is moving us from the bondage of prisons of our own making in sin and selfishness.  God is confirming the blessing of our baptism, “You are my beloved child; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22)  God is also seeking to move us deeper into faithfulness, until we come to maturity, to the full stature of the image of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).

As we approach the time of remembering Jesus’ trial, death, and resurrection, we are forced to wrestle with our place in that story.  Would we have done differently than His disciples?  He asked them, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?” (Matthew 20:22) Are you able to make the sacrifice necessary to be my disciple?  Lent can be an opportunity to once again confront and answer that question.

Many believers have rightly made sacrifice a part of their Lenten observance. Consider giving up (fasting from) something that you particularly enjoy (it must be a real sacrifice to be significant).  Perhaps it will be TV, or candy, or caffeine. You may also choose to take on a new behavior, such as more regular prayer, bible study, or service to someone in need.  All of these are ways of focusing on Jesus’ person and work, and will draw you closer to Him